SCOTTISH Labour have won the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election to elect a new MSP to the Scottish Parliament.
The SNP had been the bookies' favourites to retain the seat, which was won by the late Scottish Government minister Christina McKelvie in the 2021 elections.
Here are the key figures you need to know:
The first numbers from the night confirmed that turnout in the by-election was 44.2%. Of the total electorate (61,485), 27,155 ballot papers were verified.
This is below the 60.7% turnout recorded in the constituency in 2021, but higher than would ordinarily be expected.
Later, it was confirmed that Scottish Labour had won the by-election. Here is the full breakdown of vote totals:
- Collette Bradley, Scottish Socialist Party: 278 votes
- Andy Brady, Scottish Family Party: 219 votes
- Ross Lambie, Reform UK: 7088 votes
- Katy Loudon, SNP: 7957 votes.
- Janice MacKay, Ukip: 50 votes.
- Ann McGuinness, Scottish Greens: 695 votes
- Aisha Mir, Liberal Democrats: 533 votes.
- Richard Nelson, Conservative and Unionist Party: 1621 votes.
- Davy Russell, Labour Party: 8559 votes.
- Marc Wilkinson, Independent: 109 votes.
- Void ballots. 46.
And here are two graphs showing the 2021 results in the constituency, and the 2025 by-election results.
The polling
Britain Elects had projected that the SNP would win the by-election, with Labour in second and Reform in third place.
The Holyrood parliament
With Scottish Labour's victory, Anas Sarwar now leads a group of 23 MSPs.
In 2021, the SNP returned 64 MSPs, just one short of a majority. However, this has slipped with the suspension of John Mason and the defection of Ash Regan to Alba. With the loss of the by-election, John Swinney now leads a group of 61 MSPs.
Here is how the Scottish Parliament looked after the 2021 elections, and how it looks now:
